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B. W. HUNT.

FEEDING TABLE FOR ROLLING MILLS.

Patented Jan. 20, .1885.

No. 310,893. g

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R. W. HUNT.

FEEDING TABLE FOR ROLLING MILLS. L No. 310,893. Patented Jan. 20, 1 885,

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ROBERT W. HUNT, OF TROY, NE\V YORK.

FEEDING-TABLE FOR ROLLlNG-MILLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent NO.310,893, dated January 20, 1885.

Application filed May 8, 1884. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT WV. HUNT, of the city of Troy, county of Rensselaer, State of New York, have invented a new and use ful Improvement in Automatic Feed Mechanismfor Rolling-Mills, of which the follow ing is a specification.

My invention relates to mechanical attachments to rolling-mills for receiving, guiding, and automatically returning to the rolls a bar or rail-bloom being shaped by the latter, my improvements relating in the main to a mechanism that is used on one side of the train only, and which has stationary tables or platforms, as distinguished from apparatus having tables and combined rollers that are adapted to be alternately raised or depressed, so as to come opposite the upper and lower passes of the train, the object and purpose of my invention being to substitute machinery for hand labor, and thus reduce the cost of production as respects the latter.

Accompanying this specification, to form a part of it, there are two plates of drawings containing four figures illustrating my invention,with the same designation of its parts by letter-reference used in all of them. Of these illustrations, Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a three-high-train mill, and an elevation of the mechanism containing my invention. Fig. 2 shows an end elevation of the mill and its housings shown at Fig. 1, and a side elevation of the mechanism containing my invention as connected therewith. Fig. 3 illustrates a top View of the mill and its housings, and a plan View of the mechanism containing my invention. Fig. 4 illustrates details of Fig. 2.

The several parts of a three-high-train rolling-mill and those of the mechanism containing my invention connected therewith are designated by letter-reference, and the function of the parts is explained as follows:

The letter H indicates the housings of the mill in which the bearings of the roller-shafts are placed; G, the coupler-shafts; D, spiral gears; S, the driving-shaft from which, as shown, power is derived to operate the train, the first series of the rolls indicated at A being the roughing-rolls, Y the second series, and those indicated F being the finishingrolls, the rolls proper of each series being indicated at R, all the foregoing parts constituting the usual factors of a three-high train rolling-mill.

The letter I indicates an inclined platform or slideway, made with the friction-rollers m in its upper edge where opposite the last upper pass of the roughing-rolls, said pass being designated at P. This inclined platform is arranged to receive the rail bloom. or bar coming from the said upper pass of the roughing-rolls, so as to have it run out on the friction-rollers m, and from thence to slide downwardly until arrested by the upwardly-projected stop T, so as to be deposited on the roller R of the shaft S. This latter shafthas its bearings in standards 0 and it receives power from a connection made with the driving-shaft S at M. When the rail bloom or bar coming from off the slideway I is thus deposited on the roller It, it is guided by the millman, and is conveyed by said roller to return through the shaping-rolls of the train by the lower pass, P, of the middle train.

The letter S designates a horizontal shaft having its bearings in studs d d, and constructed with a sprocket gearqvheel, G, at one of its ends outside of its bearing, and which by means of a chain belt, K, connects with another sprocket gear-wheel, G on the shaft S and the letter R indicates a conveyingrolle-r arranged on said shaft Then the said shaft S is actuated by this connection made with a chain belt, the roller R located on it, rotates with its uppermost surface turning toward the train in the same manner as does the roller R on the shaft S This roller R is constructed with a grooved collar-guide, g, which is opposite to the upper pass, P of the middle train, and the roller R on the shaft S is constructed with a grooved collar-guide, g, which is opposite the lower pass, P of the same train. The letter 71- indicates an inclined guideplate.

WVhen the rail-bloom is entered through the upper pass, P of the middle train, to come frontward, it descends onto the grooved collar'guide g of the roller It and the roller R being guided thither by the guide h, and moving thereon against the rotation of the said rollers from the expelling force of the shapingrolls of the train by which it is being ejected. Just at the time of leaving the shaping-rolls of the train, the front end of the rail engages with a vertically-placed guideplate, p,which deflects its outward end horizontally toward the inclined platform I, and thus causes its end that is nearest to the train to swing-over into the grooved collar-guide g of the roller R by which the rail-bloom is directed and returned to the train at and through the lower pass, P of said middle train. This combination of an inclined slideway, I, with the rollers R R the stop T, and plate 19, as combined with a series of rolls making a part of a train, constitutes a separate part of my invention.

The inclined slideway I, considered by itself independently ofthe friction-rollers, which I have added thereto as an improvement, is an old device, and a part of my invention only when combined with the rollers B B stop T, and guide p,with both of said rollers operated with aparallel rotation, which on its upper circumference is towardthe train.

\Vhile I prefer to use the grooved collarguides g 9 if desired, however, the said rollers E B may be combined with the inclined slideway I, and used without said collar-guides on the rollers through the co-operation of the plate 19 and stop T, projected above said rollers, or the said plate and stop and an additional plate upwardly projected from the floor oppositely to where the collar-guide g is located on the rollerR In either way of thus using the combined slideway the rollers R R in combination with the plate 1) and stop T, perform the same office for receiving, guiding, and conveying the rail in return to the train. The function of the guide-plate 19 being to force the outwardly-approaching end of the rail toward the incline I, and thus actuate the other end to swing in so as to be opposite the lower pass, P of the middle series of the train-rolls, any device performing the same.

which is on the shaft S ,)have their bearings upon the roller E of the series, and D a guideplate arranged on that one of the platforms B that is nearest to the train.

The letters L L indicate two guide-plates arranged on one of the platforms B, and d a collar arranged on one of the rollersE between the ends of said plates.

The letter (1* indicates another collar arranged on one of the rollers E oppositely to the collar d? on the roller E.

The letters D and D designate plates on the sides of two of the platforms B, and D a deflecting-plate 011 the end platform, B, that is most remote from the train, all the plat forms and the guide-plates thereon, as well as the series of rollers E being shown as opposite to the finishingrolls of the train.

The operation of the inclined platforms B, the guide-plates arranged thereon, the rollers E, and the collars on said rollers, is as follows: The end of the rail bloom coming from the upper pass, P of the finishingrolls descends upon one of the said platforms to run up thereon, being deflected in emerging from the shaping-rolls of the train by the inclined guide Z, and in descending upon the platforms it runs out over the-latter and on the rollers E against the rotation of said roll-- ers from the expelling force imparted to the rail bloom by the shaping-rolls from which it emerges. The rail-bloom thus coming from said lastnamed upper pass of the finishing series of rails as guided by'the incline Z and standard K, is directed outwardly and 0x1 wardly between the plates L L, so as to run upon its side .from the engagement of the grooved side of the rail-bloom with the collars d and d, the length of the railbloom at this stage of its production not reaching to the platforms at the outer end of the series. After the rail-bloom has tlfus run through and left the upper pass, P, of the finishing-rolls, so as to be over the platforms B and the rollers E, the forward vprogressive movement having carried it fromoff the collar cl, as the rollers E commence to move the rail toward the train, it is still held upon its side by the action of the plates L L, and the collar d while being returned to the lower pass, P of the finishing-rolls being guided-therein by the incline t at the side of said pass. When the rail is returned frontward through the upper pass, 1?, of the linishing-rolls, as it emerges therefrom it is guided in its descent to the platforms B and rollers E by the inclined guide P, the latter causing it as it comes from the train-rolls on its side, in connection with the engagement of its outer end with the deflecting-plate D to be deposited on the collars d d, the head of the rail being on thecollars with the edge of its flange resting on the rollers \Vhen the rail has left the train-rolls, and on coming under the motor influence of the rotating collars and rollers E, on which it rests, it is moved in return toward the train, and by the action of the said collars and guide-plate D it is directed so as to enter the last pass of the train, which completes the operation. 7

Theletter N designates a stop, which may ILO be moved infront of the lower passes of the finishing-train to stop the passage of the rail when it become necessary to cut' from it a feather or irregularity that may have been developed thereon. v

The letter N designates a pivoted lever attached to said stop, having its fulcrum at n, and by which lever the said stop is operated.

The letter N" designates a like stop arranged opposite the middle train, that is provided with a pivoted lever, b, having its fulcrum at b ,which leveris used for the samepurpose as the other stop at an earlier period of the manipulation.

The sprocket-gears used on all of the rollershafts are of the form and kind illustrated in the annex figure X of Fig. 2, wherein they are shown in a comparatively enlarged representation, these elements where illustrated in the other figures being from necessity too small, when drawn in correct proportion to the other parts, to be represented with defini-teness. The connection at M, by which power is ap plied to the shaft S from the shaft S of the train, is made by the spur W on the shalt S, the gear-wheel W on the counter-shaft S and the gear-wheel IV on thelatter, which engages with the gear-wheel IV on the shaft S. If desired, the feed mechanism may be operated by power other than that derived from the train. As the function of the inclined platforms B, rollers E, and combined collars and guide-plates which I show and describe is to receive the rail-bloom from the upper passes of the finishing-rolls in their sequence, and to return it to and through the lower passes of said rolls in their order, and these functions would be the same whether there were combined with said platforms B and rollers E the same arrangement of collars and guide-plates which I show, or some equivalent arrangement of means were used in the same connection and combination that would operate in substantially the same manner, hence I do not limit my invention as relates thereto to the precise form and arrangement of collars and guide-plates which I combine with the said rollers and platforms.

It will be understood that my invention relates to an attachment that is arranged upon one side of a rail-train or rolling mill train,

I and for operating the rail-bloom on the opposite side thereof, hand-labor or any of the well-known mechanisms that are suitable for such use may be employed.

The function of the chain belts and sprocket-gears being to actuate the rollers E to turn with a parallel axial rotation, and with their tops where arranged to be in contact with the rail turning toward the train, any system of belts and pulleys or gears that will produce this same parallel rotation of said rollers may be used, instead of sprocket-gears and chains, if desired.

The letters V indicate a series of frictionrollers that are arranged in front of and parallel to the rollers E, and having arranged between each two of them, and that one of the rollers E to which they are adjacent, inclined platforms I3 like those between the said rollers E. These friction-rollers move with. the reciprocating passage of the rail as it rides over them at its outer end when coming from the roll-train, and when returning for the final pass through the latter.

The guide plates D D" may be dispensed with, as their use is merely to guard against contingencies, and the number of the rollers E may be increased or diminished, and so may be the number of the friction rollers V, and their intermediate platforms, B.

' The mechanism thus illustrated and described for receiving, guiding, and returning the rails to the train operates automatically when power is applied thereto. It does its work uniformly, and dispenses withthe services of several skilled men; and while I have in the main described it as more particularly adapted for rails, it may be employed for the rolling of any form of iron requiring a like manipulation.

Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1S

1. In an automatic feed attachment to a rolling-mill, the combination of the inclined platform or slideway I, arranged with reference to the roughing'rolls, as shown, the conveying-rollers R and R constructed to turn with parallel rotation, and with the upper part of said rotation directed toward the train, the guide h, stop T, and the guide-plate p, with the said parts constructed and arranged to operate substantially in the mannor, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In an automatic feed attachment to a rolling-mill, the combination of the inclined platform or slideway I, arranged with reference to the roughing-rolls, as shown, the conveying-roller It", made with the grooved collar the roller It, made with the grooved collar 9, the guide It, the stop T, and the upwardly-projected guide-platep, with the said parts constructed and arranged to operate substantially in the manner as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In an automatic feed attachment to a rolling-mill, the combination of the inclined platforms B, the roller E, the collars d (F, and the guide-plates L L, said partsbeing constructed and arranged to operate substantially in the manner as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In an automatic feed attachment to a rolling-mill, the combination of the inclined platforms B, the rollers E, and the guides Z and Z with the said parts constructed and arranged to operate substantially as and for the purposes set forth. i

Z). In an automaticfeed attachment to a rolling-mill, the combination of the inclined platforms 13, the rollers E, the collars d d d (1*, the guides Z Z, with the said parts constructed and arranged to operate substantially in the manner as and for the purposes set forth.

6. In an automatic feed attachment to a rolling-mill, the combination of theinclined platforms B, the rollers E, the collars d at (Z d,

the guides L L, with the said parts constructed and arranged to operate substantially inthe 5 manner as and for the purposes set forth.

7. In an automatic feed attachment to a rolling-mill, the combination of the inclined platforms B, the rollers E, collars cl d (1* cl, guides l Z plates L L, and guide-plate D with said parts constructed and arranged to operate substantially in the manner as and for the purposes set forth.

8. In an automatic feed attachment to a rolling-mill, the combination of the rollers E, actu- I 5 ated to turn with a parallel rotation, that in its upper circumference is toward the train, the inclined platforms B, the friction-rollers V, the inclined platforms B and deflecting-plate D, with said parts arranged with reference to each other, and constructed to be operated substantially in the manner as and for the purposes set forth.

9. In combination with an automatic feed mechanism for a rolling-mill, the stop N, arranged in front of the lower pass-openings of the train-rolls, and constructed to operate substantially in the manner as and for the purposes set forth.

10. In an inclined platform or slideway for a rolling-mill train, the friction-rollers m, arranged in the upper edge of the said platform, as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed at Troy, New York, this 26th day of April, 1884:, and in the presence of the two witnesses whose names were by them hereto written,

ROBERT W. HUNT.

Witnesses CHARLES S. BRINTNALL, WM. A. SAXE. 

